


Kiss: Gentle

by RainofAugust



Series: Lana and Viri: Post-KOTET [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: Copero spoilers, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Lana and Viri - Post-KOTET, OC Kiss Week 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-03 13:42:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,368
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13342440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RainofAugust/pseuds/RainofAugust
Summary: Lana is working way too hard, and is hurting herself in the process. Viri finally stages an intervention. Spoilers for SWTOR through "A Traitor Among the Chiss" (Copero). A short drabble for OC Kiss Week 2018.





	Kiss: Gentle

When one hurts, the other does, too. When one is angry, the other feels it. Thus, Viri has spent the better part of a week walking around the Odessen base with a sharp pain in her soul. She is Sith. She neither flees from anger nor condemns it; she channels it into something she can use productively. Still, there’s a level of rage that is beyond that mastery, even for her, and it’s that rage which is encircling Lana Beniko right now. 

Lana in private is still herself; tender and loving. Lana around the base has become cold and laser-focused, to the point where some of the Alliance staff is afraid of her. The archaeological team working on the Copero map has been driven to tears more than once. 

The team is always glad to see the Commander in the lab. It means Lana might relax for a moment; that she might slow down. When Viri appears in the early afternoon, the relief is palpable. 

”Lana, I need to see you,” Viri says, leaning in the doorway. Lana is bent over her console with four different screens open and a datapad beside her. Her hair is in disarray, and even though she spent last night curled up by Viri’s side, she hadn’t bothered putting on fresh clothing in the morning. She'd simply grabbed the clothes she'd thrown on the floor the night before.

”I’m busy, Commander.” 

”And I’m the Commander, and I need to see you.” 

Lana sighs. “Understood. Give me five minutes to close this out.” 

”All right. I’ll wait.” Viri wanders around the lab, stopping by Talos Drelik’s table. 

”Hello, Commander,” Talos says, without looking up. He’s haggard, and there are dark circles under his eyes. 

”How are you holding up?” 

Talos looks furtively toward Lana and away again. “I’d rather not answer that, Commander. I’m awake. That’s the best I can do. We’re all…under strain here.” 

“Sorry to hear you’re ill, Talos,” Viri says, winking at him. 

”What do you mean, I’m fine, I just…” 

”What? You want to rest in the medbay for a night so you won’t infect anyone else with your cold? Are you sure?” Viri says, very deliberately, as she pulls out her datapad and presses a few buttons. “Hmmm. Someone will need to sign off on that. Oops, I just did.” 

Relief floods Talos’s face as he understands. “Thank you, Commander.”

”You’re welcome. This will give you until 0900 tomorrow morning. Go. Try to cough once or twice as you leave the room, just for authenticity’s sake.” Talos nods wordlessly and heads for the door. 

”You ready, Lana?” Viri asks, walking back to her.

”Commander, one more thing…” Lana insists, typing feverishly. 

“Now,” Viri says, unsmiling. Lana sighs, shuts down the console and follows Viri back to her suite. 

”All right, I’m here. What’s wrong?” Lana crosses her arms.

”I’m putting you on rest leave for 48 hours. Take a shower and go to bed,” Viri says. 

”What? You can’t do that!” 

Viri crosses her own arms and raises one eyebrow at Lana. “I can’t?”

“How dare you pull rank with me!” 

”You haven’t been listening to me. What choice do I have?”

“He wants to destroy everything!” Lana shouts. _”Don’t you realize that?!_ I have to keep working!”

”Yes,” Viri says. “I certainly do realize Theron’s intentions. No, you do not have to keep working. I keep trying to tell you that, and you won’t listen. So yes, I’m going all Commander on you. This has to stop.” 

”I can’t let this go, Viri. I can’t. I have to pursue it and I don’t want to stop until I find him _and make him suffer._ I can’t let him destroy everything.” 

”But he is.” 

”What?!”

Viri takes Lana’s hand and leads her to the mirror, standing behind her. “I want you to look into that mirror, Lana Beniko. Do you see what I do? It’s someone I love desperately who hasn’t been eating, sleeping, or showering. It’s someone who is being overcome by hate. He’s destroying you.” 

“I…”

Viri wraps both arms around Lana’s shoulders. ”That woman in the mirror there is my everything. If anything happens to her, I won’t be able to go on. I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and in my afterlife, I want to be with her, too. I want to keep her safe, happy and loved.” 

“My love, I want to be with you always, here or beyond here,” Lana says quietly. “You know how much I love you. But if he kills us…”

“Who says we’re going to let him kill us? We can attend to that without all of…this. Did you know that half the base has come to me about you, Lana? Not because they dislike you. Quite the opposite. They’re very worried for your welfare.” 

”Viri…I’m just trying to…how can you not hate Theron?”

”Oh, I do,” Viri smiles coldly. “I hate him beyond all reason right now. I hate him because of what he’s trying to do. We will not have our work undone by Theron, nor will we allow him to harm the galaxy. But I hate him most because of what this is doing to you.” 

Viri buries her face in Lana’s shoulder and plunges into their bond. She shivers as the full force of Lana’s hate and anger washes over her, but instead of fleeing from it, she dives in and channels as much as she can.

”This is too much to bear, Lana,” Viri murmurs. “Let me carry this with you.” She raises her head and catches Lana’s eyes in the mirror again, but what they see there makes both of them gasp. Viri’s brilliant blue eyes have turned yellow. 

“Viri, no…your eyes…” Lana whispers. 

“You still like me with gold eyes, I hope?” Viri says teasingly. 

“Of course, but your blue eyes are…were…beautiful. How…” 

“When you hurt, I hurt,” Viri says quietly. “I’m not going to let you face this level of hate and anger alone. I’m sure they’ll snap back eventually. They have before. If they don’t, they don’t.” 

”He’s destroying everything, Viri. Everything…” Lana touches Viri’s eyes in the mirror and starts to sob. ”I didn’t protect you. I didn’t stop this.”

”Shhhh. You’re not responsible for Theron’s choices.” Viri gently turns Lana around and hugs her tight. 

”I trusted him. I was weak.” Lana spits the words. 

”I trusted him, too. So did the entire Alliance. It wasn’t weakness. A month ago, I would have considered Theron one of my closest friends. We will get him. We’ll find out what the hell he was thinking with all of this, one way or the other. We will not let him wreck what we’ve built. If you destroy yourself, though, none of that will matter to me.” Viri strokes Lana’s hair with one hand, something that has soothed her since Yavin. 

”I failed,” Lana sobs.

”I love you.” 

”I need to be stronger.” 

”I love you.” 

”I’m worthless.” 

”None of the things you’re saying are true. You have to believe it, though, not me. I love you, Lana. Stay with me.”

Lana cries into Viri’s chest. “Of course I’ll stay with you.” 

”I’ve got you.” Viri rocks them both slightly, comfortingly. She effortlessly picks Lana up and sits down on the couch, cradling the Sith in her arms. Tears have begun to form in her own eyes. Their bond is active as always, their minds are open, and Lana’s anguish is affecting every part of her. 

“I don’t know what to do…” Lana whispers. 

”You’re going to take a shower with your wife, you’re going to have something to eat, and then you’re going to bed,” Viri says. “You’re going to sleep as long as you need, and you’re going to have every bit of support I can give you. We’ll fix this. But first, you need to get some rest. The team’s still working on the map, in the meantime.” 

”All…all right.” Lana says. “Viri, have I told you I love you?” 

”Every second of every day.” Viri tilts Lana’s face up and gives her a gentle kiss.


End file.
